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[November 30, 2006]

Linux set to overtake Symbian by 2010 - Trolltech

(Total Telecom Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Symbian is currently the dominant operating system for smart mobile devices and accounted for 68% of the 49 million smart phones sold globally in 2005, according to figures cited by Norwegian software developer Trolltech.

But Trolltech, which specialises in software that runs on embedded Linux devices, is convinced that by 2010 mobile Linux will overtake Symbian in the mobile OS market, with Windows Mobile also expected to show strong growth.

The company pointed out that mobile Linux already accounted for 22% of all smart phones in 2005, up from just 5% in 2004, while Symbian's share slipped from 81% in the same period.

Trolltech acknowledged that the majority of Linux devices are currently sold in the Asian markets, particularly in Japan and China, while Europe has yet to really latch onto the OS not least because of Nokia's support for Symbian. In addition, Linux phones makers are still dealing with issues such as power management, memory and speed.

But the Oslo-based company believes that the open nature of Linux will attract increasing numbers of handset makers and developers, and quoted Motorola as saying that more than 50% of its handsets would be based on mobile Linux in the next two years.

"We see three strong OSs on the market," said Adam Lawson, product director at Trolltech, each with its own unique selling point.

For example, Linux would be favoured because of its free and open nature, Windows would be deployed more in enterprise devices, while Symbian would become more mass market, Lawson commented.

Trolltech is hoping to play a part in the growth of Linux-based devices by providing increasingly more tools to help developers get phones and applications to market more quickly, and by helping to build a Linux ecosystem to reduce fragmentation on the mobile Linux market.

The company already provides Qtopia Phone Edition, which is to embedded Linux what Nokia's Series 60 is to Symbian. It has also launched the Qtopia Greenphone, which is a GSM/GPRS device made by Chinese manufacturer Yuhua Teltech that application developers can use to help them develop and test Linux-based mobile phone applications.

Trolltech is in the process of shipping 1,000 Greenphones to its developer partners by the end of this year. Around 50% of the test devices will go to Asian companies, while 30% will be sent to Europe and the remainder to the Americas.

Lawson added that Trolltech, which has no plans to get into the supply of mobile handsets in the consumer market, will produce more "green" devices in time, such as one that is more "low end" than a smart phone and another with WiFi connectivity.

Following Greenphone, Trolltech plans to launch in Q2 next year the "Greensuite" initiative, which is an "out-of-the-box" integrated collection of "best-of-breed" applications that developers can use to speed time to market for mobile Linux-based smart phones.

Greensuite builds on Qtopia Phone Edition and Greenphone and includes a WAP and HTML browser; a messaging solution; a multimedia package including video and audio recording; DRM; 3D graphics; VoIP support; 2G and 3G capability; Java MIDP, CLDC and various JSRs; Document viewing and editing, VPN client, synchronisation tools.

"Customers want help with integration," commented Karsten Homann, VP of professional services at Trolltech. "We're about making life easier for developers."

Copyright 2006 Terrapinn Ltd

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